Polls open in Indiana primaries

Trump, Clinton seek to secure nominations with win

Voters went to the polls in Indiana’s presidential primaries on Tuesday, with Donald Trump hoping to knock out his rivals for the Republican nomination and Hillary Clinton seeking to further cement her status as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee.

Voters trickled in to cast their ballots after polling stations began opening at 6 am, setting in motion a day of reckoning for the movement to “stop Trump” led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

“We have to put him away tomorrow folks,” Mr Trump told a crowd in South Bend on the eve of the vote.

“The biggie is going to be in Indiana — because if we win Indiana it’s over with, folks, it’s over with. And then we focus on Hillary Clinton.”

A new NBC poll showed Mr Trump 15 percentage points ahead of Mr Cruz, fresh evidence that the Texas senator’s bid to block Mr Trump was under threat.

Ms Clinton and her rival, Bernie Sanders, were locked in a closer race in Indiana. The former secretary of state is already so far ahead overall that the Vermont senator’s only hope now lies in the unlikely scenario of her failing to win a majority of delegates in the primaries, in which case her nomination could be contested at a Democratic convention in July.

Mr Cruz was counting on Indiana acting as a Trump firewall, blocking him from receiving the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July.

Mathematically eliminated from winning outright, Mr Cruz’s goal is to snatch victory on a second ballot, when most delegates become free to vote for whomever they choose — but which will only be held if Mr Trump falls short of a majority.

Mr Trump has so far amassed 1,002 delegates, according to CNN.